Spares
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The spares position for the crank motor and electrical parts of the Lafree Twist series is frankly bad. The Panasonic unit was not designed to be repaired, the main circuit board encapsulated and sealed into the right hand casing, and some other parts as sealed assemblies. Coupled with that has been Giant's reluctance to supply anything other than the drive sprocket and consumer items in the past. Now that the series has been discontinued for some while, Giant both here and at the Netherlands plant appear through extremely high part prices and lack of supply to be actively discouraging repair of these units. Here is the current position at May 2009.
Motor Drive Sprockets. One bright spot is that A to B magazine have made available a limited number of newly manufactured motor drive sprockets at only £15, and have also located a controller which can deal with a failed mainboard by changing the unit into a twistgrip controlled one. These are detailed in an article on repairs to the Lafree Twist series in issue 71, May 2009.
Chainwheels. Giant list this as Item number 241-NBICW37T-0
Part name: 37T UCP FOR NBI POWER MOTOR
When ordering quoting these avoids confusion with the items for the second series units.
That's it as far as new spares are concerned. Otherwise the best source is parts scavenged from existing units. Well worn and failed bikes are currently on sale on ebay and the like at quite low prices. As the most worthwhile part is the fast wearing 14 tooth motor chain drive sprocket, it's best to ensure that has further life left in it if buying an old bike or unit.
Chargers. Giant dealers can supply the somewhat unreliable Panasonic unit for approximately £120, but it's better to buy the superior Powerstream unit from the USA at less than that price as detailed on the Charger page of this site.
Batteries. Giant have dropped the briefly available 9 Ah model and have reverted to the old 6.5 Ah design, which is sold by the dealers at about £250. This is the sole source of complete batteries, but existing ones can be recelled at lower costs to indefinitely extend their life. Details on that are on the Batteries page of this site.
An alternative approach to the motor drive sprocket once all sources are eventually exhausted is to have an engineering company cut out and weld a 14 tooth bike sprocket outer onto the splined centre of the old sprocket. As the only estimate I obtained for this job from a cycle engineering company was about £50, and they would only entertain it as an off-season winter job, it's probably not worth it while new ones can be bought.
Motor Drive Sprockets. One bright spot is that A to B magazine have made available a limited number of newly manufactured motor drive sprockets at only £15, and have also located a controller which can deal with a failed mainboard by changing the unit into a twistgrip controlled one. These are detailed in an article on repairs to the Lafree Twist series in issue 71, May 2009.
Chainwheels. Giant list this as Item number 241-NBICW37T-0
Part name: 37T UCP FOR NBI POWER MOTOR
When ordering quoting these avoids confusion with the items for the second series units.
That's it as far as new spares are concerned. Otherwise the best source is parts scavenged from existing units. Well worn and failed bikes are currently on sale on ebay and the like at quite low prices. As the most worthwhile part is the fast wearing 14 tooth motor chain drive sprocket, it's best to ensure that has further life left in it if buying an old bike or unit.
Chargers. Giant dealers can supply the somewhat unreliable Panasonic unit for approximately £120, but it's better to buy the superior Powerstream unit from the USA at less than that price as detailed on the Charger page of this site.
Batteries. Giant have dropped the briefly available 9 Ah model and have reverted to the old 6.5 Ah design, which is sold by the dealers at about £250. This is the sole source of complete batteries, but existing ones can be recelled at lower costs to indefinitely extend their life. Details on that are on the Batteries page of this site.
An alternative approach to the motor drive sprocket once all sources are eventually exhausted is to have an engineering company cut out and weld a 14 tooth bike sprocket outer onto the splined centre of the old sprocket. As the only estimate I obtained for this job from a cycle engineering company was about £50, and they would only entertain it as an off-season winter job, it's probably not worth it while new ones can be bought.
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9.4.2019